Judge's 30th HR broke a 81 year old Yankee record Joe DiMaggio set with 29 in a full season. He also became only the 2nd Rookie to hit 30 before the All-Star break, McGwire being the other.
In '36 Joe D hit .323/.352/.576 for the season.
In '17, so far, Judge is .330/.448/.701.
Joe had 29 HRs but also 44 doubles and 15 triples (NY Stadium was cavernous in center and left center) in his 206 hits.
Aaron 30 HRs, 13 doubles, and 3 triples in his 98 hits.
Joe had 668 plate appearances (637 ABs) and walked only 24 times and struck out 39 times, his career season high for strikeouts. He also had 4 HBP.
So far Aaron has 361 plate appearances (298 ABs) with 59 walks and 104 strike outs and 4 HBP.
In 1936 Yankee Stadium was a LOT bigger. Judge hit #30 into Monument Valley which was in play in 1936. There is also a buzz this season about a "livelier" ball which MLB denies. The season is 8 games longer.
On the other hand, Joe D had a guy name Lou Gehrig hitting behind him. Lou hit 49 HRs, 152 RBIs, and hit .354. The two guys in front of DiMaggio, Crossetti and Rolfe hit .288 and .319, each with more than 180 hits. The #5 hitter was Bill Dickey who lead the team with a .362 BA. He was 4th in the AL in Slugging, with Gehrig #1 and DiMaggio #10. Powell .308, Lazzeri .287, and Selkirk .308 were the #6, 7, and 8 batters. There was no DH. The '36 Yankees had 5 hitters in the order, #3 DiMaggio, #4 Gehrig 152, #5 Dickey, #7 Lazzeri, and #8 Selkirk each driving in over 100 RBs. As a team they hit .309. Had the DH rule been in effect it might have been filled by their ace starter Red Ruffing with hit .291 with 5 HRs and 22 RBI in 140 plate appearance.
The point being Joe D. was surrounded by guys that hit well. He saw a lot more hittable pitches than Judge gets. Joe also didn't play night games nor travel overnight on planes.
DiMaggio was an incredible player. I saw him live as a wee lad and got his autograph in his final season. My autographed ball has 6 or 7 Hall Fame signatures.
